Kanye West Tops "Rolling Stone's" 2010 Best Album List

Receive the latest music updates in your inbox

Kanye West can now consider his comeback tour to be an overwhelming success.

The beleaguered rapper, who started 2010 in exile after his MTV VMA meltdown, ended it atop the music world as he was awarded the top spot in Rolling Stone's year-end album issue, reports Newser.

West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy has received popular and critical praise since coming out in November and picked up a five-star best rating in the music publication's initial review. In the best-of issue, the magazine said that the album is, "Music as sprawlingly messy as his life," and that the tunes are "hip-hop epics...full of the kind of grandiose gestures that only the foolish attempt and only the wildly talented pull off."

Akron, Ohio, blues-rock duo the Black Keys scored the number two spot with Brothers, which featured one of the year's breakout songs and videos for the funky, "Tighten Up."

VH1 Divas Salute the Troops with Music and Fireworks

Rock icons Elton John and Leon Russell came in third with The Union. The magazine said that the former collaborators, "...rekindle a friendship and make music that ranks with their best."

Canadian indie rockers Arcade Fire landed at fourth with The Suburbs, a loose conceptual album that examines the conflicting emotions that roil under the calm veneer of communities that look perfect from the outside. The band also took music videos to the next level with an arresting interactive piece for their song, "We Used to Wait."

Country star Jamey Johnson's The Guitar Song rounded out the top five. Rolling Stone calls him "a Music Row pro who can write a song for every emotional season."

Stars Shine at Inaugural American Country Awards

Vampire Weekend's Contra, Drake's Thank Me Later, Robert Plant's Band of Joy, Eminem's Recovery and This Is Happening by LCD Soundsystem complete the top 10. The full list can be seen on Rolling Stone's website.